*subject to approval by SBA board
Time and location: 11/14/14 SBA office, Student Center
Present: Kate, Aparna, Shoeb, Megan, Anthony, Stephen, Lexi, Dustin, Ernesto
Move to approve the agenda (Ernesto), second (Stephen)
Move to approve the minutes (Ernesto), second (Shoeb)
Ayes: Kate, Stephen, Dustin, Aparna, Nays: 0, Abstentions: Lexi, Anthony, Megan, Neil
Move to approve the bylaws with the exception of Article 8 (Ernesto), second (Anthony)
Ayes: 9 (Kate, Aparna, Shoeb, Megan, Anthony, Dustin, Stephen, Lexi), Nays: 0
ARTICLE 8
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Section 8.01 Disqualifying Financial Interest. A Board Member must disqualify herself or himself from making, participating in the making of, or attempting to influence any decisions of SBA or an SBA committee if it is reasonably foreseeable that the decision is one in which the Board Member has a material financial interest.
Section 8.02 Disqualifying Non-Financial Interest. Any Board Member must disqualify herself or himself when a personal non-financial interest exists which will prevent the Board Member from applying disinterested skill and undivided loyalty to SBA in making or participating in the making of decisions.
Section 8.03 Procedure of Disqualification. A Board Member required to disqualify himself or herself shall (i) immediately disclose the interest, (ii) withdraw from any participation in the matter, (iii) refrain from attempting to influence any other Board Member, and (ivii) refrain from voting or making motions. The Board Member may be counted in determining whether a quorum is present.
Section 8.04 Application of Article 8. Any Board Member who is uncertain as to whether Article 8 of these Bylaws applies to them must request a review and vote by the SBA Board. The SBA Board will determine whether Article 8 applies to the Board member in question by a simple majority vote. Board members seeking review may not vote on their own requests for clarification.
Related separate vote in funding policy
Funding policy changes
(h) SBA shall review all funding allocations. Funding allocations must be approved by a simple majority vote, unless the allocation is for more than $1,000.00 then it must be approved by a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the SBA Board members that are not conflicted per the Bylaws.
Additional proposal
ABA Representative Vice-Chair
The Bylaws allow for the President to do the following:
Represent SBA as a voting member to the American Bar Association Law Students Division and act as liaison between Pacific McGeorge and the American Bar Association, or appoint a designee;
Based on that, the creation of an elected Vice Chair position would require the creation of duties of the Vice Chair, the 2 year term, and the eligible voters for the Vice Chair. We have an appointment process established in the Election Code to solicit students their interest in the position once it is created. Will update the agenda before our meeting with a duties list that can be put out for comment.
The following is the draft amendment for the creation of a ABA Representative Vice Chair.
Under Article 5 of the Proposed Bylaws
Add the following:
Section 5.07 American Bar Association Representative Vice Chair. The ABA Vice Chair shall seek out opportunities to represent McGeorge at a national level within the American Bar Association Law Student Division and serve as the McGeorge ABA Representative during the second academic year of their term. The Vice Chair and ABA Representative shall be considered Representative positions but are not voting members of the SBA Board. The Vice Chair’s duties consist of:
a. Actively seeking out and applying for vacant positions within the Law Student Division circuit that has jurisdiction over McGeorge School of Law.
b. Currently registered as a Second Year Day, Second Year Evening, or Third Year Evening student at McGeorge School of Law.
c. Eligible to serve for two academic years with the first academic year supporting the current ABA Representative and the second year as the ABA Representative.
d. Meet the eligibility requirements of ABA Representation which includes:
i. Good standing at their ABA‐approved law school and not on academic probation or suspension.
ii.Must be a law student during the academic year in which they serve as ABA Representative.
iii. Must be an ABA Law Student Division member in good standing with dues paid in full.
The following would also need to be amended in Article 3 of the bylaws
Section 3.06 Annual Elections. There will be two (2) annual elections each academic year. An election shall be held during the spring semester at such time and place as the Elections Committee may determine. EOs and Representatives shall be elected at this election, with the exception of First Year Day, and Evening Representatives, and American Bar Association Representative Vice Chair. An election shall be held during the fall semester at such time and place, as the Elections Committee may determine. First Year Day, and First Year Evening Representatives, and American Bar Association Representative Vice Chair shall be elected at this election.
Process
My suggestion on process would be to go in the following order:
1. Vote to approve the bylaws with the exception of Article 8 (conflict of interest rules)
2. Vote to place a revised Article 8 for additional student comment to conclude in January. This will retain the old bylaw rule of no voting if a conflict exist.
3. Vote to approve the funding policy change for requests of $1,000 or more.
4. Vote to put out for student comment the creation of a ABA Rep Vice Chair over the break and return to it in January.
Move to approve amended Article 8 for discussions (Ernesto), second (Shoeb)
Ayes: 9 (Kate, Aparna, Shoeb, Megan, Anthony, Stephen, Dustin, Lexi), Nays: 0
Move to approve funding policy subsection H(Ernesto), second (Dustin)
Discussion: I don’t like that it is unclear about the disqualification under quorum (Neil), It’s better to be redundant (Dustin), It is clear that the quorum consists of the members who are not conflicted (Ernesto), There must be quorum for the first vote but then the quorum may or may not change the quorum req (Neil)
Vote: Ayes 8 (Kate, Shoeb, Megan, Anthony, Stephen, Dustin, Lexi), Nays 0
ABA position(Ernesto); we would run an election for the first two year position then run the elections in the Spring from here on out (Ernesto); I’m afraid people won’t check it out over break (Lexi); so we can hold it the second week of the semester (Ernesto); is the vice chair running in the fall and again in the spring (Stephen); with the exception of first year day and evening (Ernesto); got it (Stephen); the whole goal of this is to have better representation throughout the country (Shoeb); Yes, this is what we saw at the conference and we want to give the ABA rep an opportunity to apply to awards and events (Ernesto); Does this cost us any money (Shoeb); I don’t know (Neil); it could cost more to send both to the conference (Shoeb)
Move to approve the Section 5.07 proposal for the ABA representative as well as changes to section 3.06 of our bylaws (Ernesto), second (Shoeb)
Ayes: 8 (Kate, Shoeb, Megan, Anthony, Stephen, Dustin, Lexi), Nays: 0
Move to adjourn (Ernesto), second (Neil)
Ayes: 8 (Kate, Shoeb, Megan, Anthony, Stephen, Dustin, Lexi), Nays: 0
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